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About Mosel-Saar-Ruwer

The river Mosel and its tributaries are home to Germany's oldest vineyards, dating back centuries to Roman times. A nice historical legacy is one thing, but it wouldn't mean much if the the region wasn't also the source of some of Germany's best-known wines--almost entirely Riesling packaged in tall green bottles. While the dominant environment here is steep slate slopes, even small variations in mineral content of the slate, subsoil, exposure, and other factors can make for quite dramatic and systematic variations in the resulting wines. Take, for instance, the top vineyards of neighboring Erden, Urzig, Zeltigen, and Wehlen, to the eye each just another towering wall of slate. Erden Rieslings are nearly always dominated by aromas and flavors of citrus, particularly lemon and tangerine. Rieslings from Urzig evince red berries--usually strawberry. And those from the top sites in Zeltingen and Wehlen are nearly always redolent of apple, vanilla, and nut oils.

Despite these differences, all of these vineyards benefit from a set of geographical factors that ensure consistently high-quality wines. The adjacent river helps to moderate temperature and reflect heat. Likewise, the slate soil helps retain heat, and the impressively steep angle of the slopes helps point the vines in the direction of the sun.

Besides the Upper and Middle Mosel areas--from Koblenz upstream to Trier--this large official growing region takes in the tributaries of Saar and Ruwer, which flow into the Mosel near Trier.

The Saar originates in the Vosges mountains, which separate Germany from Alsace, but its top vineyards only emerge along the final twenty miles of the river, before it flows into the Mosel. Here, the soils are less uniform and more stony than those downriver, and they retain less heat. Additionally, the Saar and her tributaries are smaller bodies of water than the Mosel, which limits their ability to serve as a moderating factor on the region's microclimate. As a result of these factors, Rieslings from the Saar often struggle to ripen, and have a reputation for being harvested even later than on the Middle and Upper Mosel.

The Ruwer River is even smaller than the Saar, all the way down to the point where it joins the Mosel, a few miles downstream from where the Saar enters. The two rivers do share similar challenges to viticulture, for again, unlike the Mosel, the Ruwer lacks the mass of water necessary to moderate temperature, and the surrounding areas lack the consistent layer of slate in the soil that allows the vineyards to retain heat evenly. Consequently, like the Saar, grapes from the Ruwer must also fight to achieve full ripeness. One easy to recognize result is that, in wines from both of these river basins, acidity generally outweighs richness.

About Germany

German vintners and Germany's wine law have often been their own worst enemies, and consumers understandably bemoan the unintelligibility of the labels as well as the mediocre quality of so many commercial-grade wines. It is a shame if this situation acts as a barrier to appreciating some of the world's most distinctive and versatile wines. In fact, an excellent case can be made that no other class of wine offers the stylistic diversity, nuanced expression of site and climate, and versatility at the table of German Riesling. These German wines can be adamantly dry, off-dry, or downright sweet. German Reisling wines can be complex and satisfyingly complete at a mere 7% alcohol, yet can also avoid coming off as heavy at over 14%.

The tradition of Riesling excellence in Germany makes two important presuppositions over and beyond the talents of the individual vintner. First, in a generally cool environment incorporating Europe's northernmost significant vineyards, the microclimatic conditions of a given vineyard site--its exposure to the sun, shelter from wind, proximity to water, geological underpinnings, and other environmental factors--are of paramount importance. Second, to get the most out of Riesling's potential in a good site, the grapes in any given parcel are generally harvested in multiple passes, at times weeks apart, in a process that often involves the selection of particular bunches or occasionally even of individual berries. These factors explain why most of the best German Rieslings preserve their vineyard identity and are labeled to reflect this. They also reflect the many pickings of a given vineyard through labeling with different designations of descriptions or taste.

About Riesling

Flavor Profile

From dry to sweet, with all styles showing pronounced minerality and acidity

The Riesling grape may scare away some wine novices. In Germany, where the grape reaches its finest expression, labels hew to a rigid, abstruse set of classifications, leaving newcomers with little idea what they may be looking at. Furthermore, many wine drinkers' early experiences with sweet wines from Germany (think Blue Nun), have not been especially rewarding. We say that it's your loss if you continue to fear the tall, flute-shaped bottles. Sweet does not necessarily equal cloying, and not all Rieslings are even sweet. Push aside these negative perceptions, and discover a complex, delicate, and elegant white wine that expresses the unique characteristics of its growing region.

Riesling originated in the Rhine Valley in Germany, and it continues to flourish here as well as in the neighboring Mosel region. German producers are selective about where they plant their Riesling. It accounts for only 20% of the total plantings in the country, but has priority on steep, slate hillsides, where the soil imparts steely minerality. Here, in Europe's northernmost vineyards of any significance, microclimatic conditions are especially influential to the final product, for the Riesling grape is especially transparent to terroir. In each vineyard, the exposure to the sun, shelter from wind, proximity to water, and other factors contribute to the distinct qualities of a given wine. The timing of the harvest is just as important to the finished wine: on any given site, producers will make multiple passes to collect grapes at differing degrees of ripeness. This allows Riesling to be bottled with different levels of residual sugar: from dry, to semi-dry, to sweet. The residual sugar content also determines the suitability of these wines for cellaring, as sugar and acidity both aid in their preservation.

As a general rule, wines from the Mosel are more expensive and sought-after than wines from the Rhine. But vineyard-to-vineyard distinctions are just as important as those between the regions, and outstanding (and expensive) wines can be found in both locales. Correspondingly, specific flavors will vary from site to site, with some bottlings showcasing varied citrus fruits and others delivering notes of red fruits or apples. Reliable producers include Joh. Jos. Prüm and Reinhold Haart. In the Rhine, look for Gunderloch and Josef Leitz.

For an indication of the transparency of the Riesling grape, move to warmer-weather Alsace. Here, increased (but not overpowering) heat and a longer growing season leads to grapes with less delicacy, lower acidity, and increased fresh fruit flavors. Even still, these wines are praised more for intensity of flavor or elegance, rather than sheer power or weight. In Alsace's grand cru vineyards, sites known to have especially strong ripening conditions and soil with enhanced minerality help craft wines with greater complexity and aging potential. Bottlings bearing the names of these grand crus (e.g. Schlossberg, Sommerberg) will of course demand higher prices. Consider wines from Domaine Zind-Humbrecht, Josmeyer, and Trimbach.

While Riesling is planted sporadically in other countries, including Austria and Australia, as well as Oregon, Washington, and New York's Finger Lakes region, it rarely achieves the stylishness and grace found in Germany or Alsace. That doesn't mean that these wines should be avoided, for they can be the source of good values-- for example, wines from the Clare Valley in Australia.

Because of its combination of sweetness and acidity, Riesling is an especially versatile wine with food. It works well with fish or pork and is one of the few wines that can hold its own again spicy cuisines like Indian, Chinese, and Thai.